Philippians 4:6-7 | December 6

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Paul was a man who had many reasons to worry. There were struggling new churches and church people who couldn’t get along. There were those who had yet to hear the gospel and those who forgot the Gospel’s true power. Even his own health and safety were eclipsed by his genuine concern for others. Although he might have been defeated by anxiety, Paul’s willingness to count all things loss for the sake of Christ coupled with his devotion to seeing Christ formed in others was motivation enough to press on toward the prize. 

While under confinement in Rome, Paul wrote the most memorable words about peace that have stilled the anxious hearts of God’s people to this very day. 

Here is the antidote to anxiety! Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

All of us wrestle with anxiety. It’s difficult not to be anxious. After all, there are lots of things to worry about, whether health, money, family, our job, or what’s going on in the world around us. Anxiety is our body's natural threat response mechanism. When our brain believes we are in danger, it sends out a series of signals to our body, resulting in a fight-or-flight response. Instead of fighting against or trying to flee anxiety, you can experience God’s provision of inner peace.

Craig Groeschel tells us how. “Anxiety is a signal alerting you that it's time to pray.” 

When we pray, the Lord’s peace envelops us and diplaces anxiety. It is the kind of peace that defies the circumstances we face. Peace isn’t the absence of conflict or troubles but resolute trust in the Lord and a settled security grounded in our relationship with Him. It is God’s Shalom, the well-being and wholeness we desperately need but struggle to find on our own.

When Paul writes that the peace of God will safeguard our hearts and minds, he views it as protection. Martyn Lloyd-Jones described it this way:

What will happen is that this peace of God will walk round the ramparts and towers of our life. We are inside, and the activities of the heart and mind are producing those stresses and anxieties and strains from the outside. But the peace of God will keep them all out and we ourselves inside will be at perfect peace.

Written by Pastor Glenn Rice